OUR OPINION: Who’s on the other end of the computer connection?

Thursday

Dec 27, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 27, 2012 at 12:48 PM

Hardly a week goes by when we don’t publish an article about someone being arrested on child pornography charges. The rise of the Internet has spread this vile avocation to almost every community, and all it takes is a few mouse clicks for anyone to access myriad forms of pornography.

Hardly a week goes by when we don’t publish an article about someone being arrested on child pornography charges. The rise of the Internet has spread this vile avocation to almost every community, and all it takes is a few mouse clicks for anyone to access myriad forms of pornography.

So given how pervasive it is, and that the Internet has an endless supply of trapdoors waiting for children, it sometimes surprises us that purveyors of kid porn are still so successful in the seduction of children.

We don’t mean young children, who can’t figure out for themselves what is right or wrong sometimes. When they become victims of child pornographers, it is one of the worst crimes imaginable.

But older children – teenagers – should be aware of what might be waiting for them on the other side of the computer screen. And their parents should not only teach them these lessons, but remain vigilant whenever their children are on the computer.

These thoughts come to mind as we cover the case of Raynham resident Andrew J. DeMello, who was arrested last week on a variety of child pornography charges. DeMello, 22, and a cheerleading coach for Taunton Pop Warner, is accused of pretending to be a young woman online and convincing teenage boys to take off their clothes and perform sexual acts while he watched on a webcam using Skype.

A 13-year-old football player told police that he and some of his teammates did this, thinking that a 19-year-old woman was watching them. Police say it was DeMello who was watching, and directing them what to do.

These young boys are victims in every way, but some people have raised the questions of why they would do what they did and why their parents didn’t do a better job of warning them that such things can happen.

The Internet has matured in the last decade, but it still retains a Wild West atmosphere to a great degree. The ability to communicate through social media has allowed almost anyone to have contact with anyone else.

Most of the time, that is good. It allows grandparents to see and talk to their grandchildren thousands of miles away; it lets people find other people with similar interests; it allows for buying and selling, job hunting, and on and on.

But the dark side belongs to those with evil intent – who seek victims using the same technology used for the most wonderful purposes.

The bottom line is that parents should use this latest child porn case as a learning tool. They should tell their children – no matter what age – that if they aren’t 100 percent sure who is at the other end of the connection, they shouldn’t have any communication with those people.

The bad guys always seem to be one step ahead of the law and one step ahead of technology designed to stop them. So it is up to parents, teachers, police and young people to keep reminding themselves that there are people in the world who will do anything to satisfy their illicit pleasures.